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Friday, July 19, 2013

Lily's Leap ~ Tea Cooper Excerpt PLUS Giveaway!

I'm delighted to welcome back the lovely Téa Cooper with her latest release, Lily's Leap!And Tea is kindly offering a giveaway of one of her other recently published books to one lucky commenter!! The winner can choose between A Winning Streak or Matilda's Freedom so don't forget to leave a comment :-)

Born into
privileged society, Lilibeth Dungarven finds herself married, widowed, and much
to her distress, back under her father’s rule, all before her twenty-first
birthday. But this feisty and independent young woman has a dream: she is
determined to breed the perfect racehorse and restore the family’s flagging
fortunes. An accomplished rider, she takes matters into her own hands and sets
out to restore Dungarven horse stud to its former glory.

When the
devastatingly attractive Captain Tom and his mismatched band of bushrangers
stumble across a mob of the best horses they’ve ever seen, and the daughter of
the famed Dungarven stud, they know their fortunes have changed. Their catch is
worth a king’s ransom. Surely it can’t be too difficult to contain this beautiful
young woman with violet eyes and skin-tight riding breeches for seven days?

Lily could see the pale ribbon of
road below cutting through the trees and the bright blue expanse of sky
wide-open in front of her. “Nero. You can do it,” she whispered into his sleek,
shiny neck and he snorted in response. Her thigh muscles burned as she
tightened her grasp on his flanks. His muscles tensed in response, attuned to
her body. She gritted her teeth and willed her shaking hands to steady. “We can
do this, Nero. We have to.” Her heart hammered so hard in her chest she thought
it might leap right over the culvert and down the hill ahead of them.

With barely a moment’s hesitation she
dug her heels into the stallion’s flanks and urged him down the hill. The last
trees cleared and the sudden heat of the sun stung her face, then she crouched
low over Nero’s neck. The clatter of his hooves on the sandstone surface told
her they had reached the road. The blood raced through her veins, pulsing in
her ears, a violent and excruciating pounding raged through her body.

“Stop.” Tom’s command echoed around
her as the blocks of the convict hewn, sandstone walls reared ahead of her.
Surely it wasn’t such a huge jump for a horse like Nero?

She leaned forward in the saddle and
her cheek brushed the dampness of his neck. Time slowed. With her eyes squeezed
tightly shut she sucked in a great gulp of air and clenched her teeth tightly
together. Nero lifted into the air. His muscles bunched beneath her and he flew
over the chiseled blocks and down the slope. Her knees gripped the saddle and
she dragged the reins almost vertical as they plunged down. Tufts of wiry grass
and small rocks littered the route. She flinched as Nero’s hooves crashed
across them. Gasping in a quick breath, she prayed for the terrain to level
off.

Her lungs contracted like bellows and
what little air remained, whistled out through her pursed lips. Nero tensed and
she shuddered as he stumbled and then regained his balance. Her heart leapt to
her throat and her wrists twisted as she wrenched on the reins to slow him. He
quivered to a halt. Silver spots danced in front of her eyes and she gulped in
a breath to feed her starving lungs. Nero’s muscled body trembled and quaked
beneath her and white froth flecked his muzzle.

“We did it, darling Nero. We did it.”
The salty tang of his body filled her nostrils as she leaned over his neck
murmuring endearments. She swayed with exertion and forced her rubbery muscles
to respond as she squinted into the sunlight. Figures on horseback towered
above her, stalled on the road. She had an overwhelming urge to wave her hand
and shriek in triumph.

But she resisted; this was her opportunity
and she had no time to waste. She cut away to the right praying her memory of
the maps was correct as she searched for the track leading her to Laguna.

“Lil-eee. Lil-eee.” Tom’s call
bounced off the sandstone walls. Shading her eyes with her hand she stared back
toward the culvert wall. It was empty.

“Lil-eee.
Lil-eee.” The sorrowful echo reached her, resounding somewhere deep in her gut.
Her sweat-soaked curls clung to her face as she shook her head, raging at her
ridiculous foolishness. After such an exhilarating and successful leap for
freedom why did she suddenly feel so melancholy? Her heels bruised Nero’s
flanks and she urged him away in a fast canter.

And now a little about Tea!

Téa’s always knew that one day she would write a novel.
It probably started with a rather risqué story in the back of an
exercise book at boarding school featuring the long suffering school
gardener - not really the stuff romantic heroes were made of but it was
before she knew any better.

Life and few heroes of her own showed
her the error of her ways and with a baby under one arm, a husband and a
half built house she entered a Mills and Boon competition. To her
absolute earth shattering amazement she won second place – the prize was
a bottle of perfume! Next time she determined she would do better.

But
it was still the stuff of fantasy and her family, a herd of alpacas, a
protea farm and teaching intervened until one day she decided it was
time to do or die. No more procrastination. The characters and plots
that had lived in her head for so long were clamoring to escape.

In
August 2011 she got serious and joined Romance Writers Australia,
entered the Harlequin Mills & Boon New Voices competition and to her
horror wasn't discovered. Not even a bottle of perfume this time. But
in reality she had won. Procrastination was conquered and determination
set in. It was time to get serious.

Her first contemporary
romance novel Tree Change was published in November 2012 followed by The
Protea Boys and Passionfruit & Poetry in 2013. She has also written
two historical romances - Lily's Leap and Matilda's Freedom - inspired
by some of the fascinating characters haunting her local museum and a
novella set in Ancient Greece.

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